Although she said that, Miss Higgins had a faint feeling that the man before them would never leave with them. She could not explain where that intuition came from. She merely felt that he did not belong with them, this place, or even this world, like an Outsider who had entered their dream.
Would it really be this simple?
Shade thought suspiciously, but there was no time this time. All questions could only be resolved next time.
Because too much time had been wasted at Black Mist Camp, only the last three minutes remained of his expedition. While the Witches rested to recover their strength, he sat beside the campfire as well and asked the boy, who was secretly wiping his dagger:
"Can you tell me why you came here? The lady over there said your country was destroyed, so you want to reverse that?"
The boy carefully hid the dagger back at his waist, glanced at the Witch across the campfire, and nodded softly in a lowered voice:
"My father was the king. I was the youngest Prince of the kingdom. Because of the disaster, the entire country was gone. All the nobles, officials, people, livestock, and land were gone. I want to turn back time and change it."
His wish was far harder to fulfill than Mrs. Miles's, but since Tree Father had sent Shade to handle this matter, he could only find a way. It was just that the boy's coin was probably not enough. Shade could not think of any way to reverse spacetime, though fortunately, Tree Father had only asked him to "help complete the transaction," rather than requiring a specific transaction to be completed.
"What disaster destroyed your country?"
He asked again. The boy's expression stiffened, and after hesitating for a moment, he said: